Conquer or Compromise Revelation 2:12-17

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Good evening everybody. Hope you're doing well. I got off track just a little bit this evening.

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I'm early. I wanted to go ahead and get started. I hope some folks will join us this evening.

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But I hope you're doing well. This is Truth in Love and I get truth in love from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 where it says,

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But speaking the truth in love we're to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ So I want to speak truth and I want to speak truth and love and I want to grow up in all

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Aspects into Christ and I want to do it with you. I want to do it together And I want to share

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God's Word I want to share the gospel with the community and I want to do that together with you as well so if you would would you um

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Give us a heart. Will you give us? Like will you give us a share?

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Um, any way that you will you pray for me pray for this ministry? Any way that you would feel led to partner with me and reach our community.

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I would love to have you join with me I'm also looking for folks that are willing to do a video

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All I'd like for you to do is read the verse of the day and post that video so that we can have

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God's Word Going out to our community as much as possible

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I would love to have more folks that are willing to do that. Read the verse of the day You can add some commentary if you'd like to a little testimony, whatever you would like to do

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But I'm looking for folks that are willing to do a video post a video onto this ministries website or page

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So that we can have a common place and God's Word can be getting out every day constantly to our community

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So tonight we're going to look at Revelation chapter 2 verses 12 through 17 and this branch is all from The sermon

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I hear I heard Sunday. I'm not going to do a sermon review. What I'm going to do is

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It's take a look at this passage and and what encouraged me from this passage But it was it was brought to light because we're going through a series series of sermons at church

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Based on the the seven letters at the beginning of Revelation and What we looked at was

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Romans Romans Revelation 2 12 through 17 looking at the third letter the third church

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And I want to do that tonight shouldn't be we should be here too long But what I what

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I saw was very encouraging very exciting to me, and I hope it will be to you I hope hopefully it will be helpful to you.

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So let me read the passage and We'll get things going Revelation chapter 2 verses 12 through 17, and if you want to follow along And to the angel of the church in Pergamum, right?

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the one who has the sharp two -edged sword says I Know where you dwell where Satan's throne is and you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith

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Even in the days of Antipas my witness my faithful one who was killed among you where Satan dwells

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But I have few things against you because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam who kept teaching

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Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality

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Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the

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Nicolaitans Repent therefore who else or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with a sword of my mouth

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He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches to him whoever comes to him

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I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on that stone

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Which no one else but he? receives it The first thing that that come out to me that I wanted to share with you to make sure that everyone gets as we look

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At these letters in Revelation. It is the very first part The the author is writing to of course

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These words are in red. This is from from Jesus Christ it indicates that Jesus is speaking these letters are coming from him through John to these churches and These letters are written to a specific church to specific churches to specific

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People at that time so it says to the angel the church in Pergamum and there are um

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I Know there are I know where you dwell You hold fast to my name and do not do not deny my faith

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He speaks of Antipas my witness my faithful one who was killed among you where Satan dwells but I have a few things against you, so We can't gloss over that we must understand

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That these letters were written to specific people For a specific time for specific reasons now

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We can take these letters and there are things that we can apply to ourselves.

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There's principles and understandings that that apply to us that we can take out of this and understand for ourselves, but we can't gloss over the fact that this was written to a certain people at a certain time for certain reasons and And We want to look at some of those reasons, and I want to look at some of the application that that's there for us

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It's interesting that in verse 13 He says you were there

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I Know where you dwell where Satan's throne is what we learned in the sermon from from the pastor was that there there were?

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Temples there and one that was kind of like in a in a u -shaped and And that was that was where they they worship false gods.

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They had emperor worship there and Jesus is telling these folks this is where Satan's throne is this is where Satan's seat of authority is and And Not only that but this is where Satan dwells.

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So this is a Very evil place a place that has a lot of evil a lot of demonic influence that they must live in and despite Despite the fact that there's so much demonic influence and and that Satan his seat of power there is there and that's where he

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Dwells that they are commended by Jesus for Holding fast his name and not denying the faith and they even had a martyr there

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So that's encouraging for us that that all this evil is is

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Accumulating here in one place in Pergamon, but yet the people there of the church remained faithful At least some of them and then there were some that he had

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Something against Three things that that jumped out to me that We can draw some application from is is this the first one is is tension

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We we live in a world Similar to Pergamon there in our country

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Even in our country there are temples to other gods. There are churches to other gods

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And people worship other gods not even in buildings or temples, but but out in the forest in the woods

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We live in a place where? everything goes Mostly there's self worship here in our country

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And so as we try to live the Christian life Just as in Pergamon there's going to be tension there's going to be tension as we try to live

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According to God's ways be obedient to him and Living in a place where There's demonic influence where there is a worship of other gods

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Where people are are free and seeking to do and and live however, they want to live There's going to be tension people are going to hate us

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You see what's going on in Canada right now where? ministers are being

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Arrested and put in prison and have court dates because they are they are holding worship services, which goes against the the policies the the rules there in Canada Because of the the

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COVID virus and now I think they are passing laws that that are restricting

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What people can say on social media, I'm not sure of all the details, but it seems like the

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The the noose is tightening the leash is getting shorter Whatever analogy you want to use it's getting to be

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Far worse for the our Christian brothers and sisters there in Canada than it is here for us We still have freedom to to do what we're doing here to go to church

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But anywhere where Christians live here in this fallen world There there's going to be tension.

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The second thing that I saw is that there's going to be temptation We we have not made it to our glorified state yet.

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We are going to We are going to be tempted with what the world has to offer because we are still living in our in our in our flesh

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And so there are things that are enticing there are things that are pleasing to our eyes and pleasing to our ears

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We want to fit in So there is Temptation 24 -7 for all of us as we live in this fallen world just like here in Capernaum or in Pergamum There was temptation for them and we're gonna see a little bit more in detail.

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Oh Maybe what that was as as Jesus speaks of what he had against them

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And then the third thing that I saw what was tribulation I've already mentioned the things that the the pastors and our brothers and sisters in Canada are going through They're they're being arrested.

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They're going to prison. They're being limited on what they can say They're going through some, you know tribulation and persecution there in Canada That you know, there's tribulation for us as we try to stand on our convictions

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Hopefully standing on Scripture getting those convictions from Scripture But as we stand on on them, there's going to be tribulation.

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There's going to be friction in other places in the world There's always been greater

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Tribulation for our brothers and sisters Christians are still being put to death because of their faith in other countries today earlier in our country the as Christianity what was growing and spreading there were restrictions on How you could worship

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I know as as a Baptist part of our heritage here in this country

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There were churches that that didn't want you to Baptize by immersion

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Didn't believe in believers baptism So some Baptist preachers here in this in the early years of our country were imprisoned

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Baptist preachers were Drowned put underwater because they there were people there that opposed believers baptism and believers baptism by immersion, so There and there's going to be tribulation, you know for us as well

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We're promised that we're promised trials And tribulations were promised that people will hate us because they first hated him

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And so we're gonna go through those things. We're gonna go through tension We're gonna go through temptation and we're gonna go through tribulation here

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Jesus tells us that What one of his faithful witnesses his he says my witness my faithful one, which was

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Antipas Was killed because of his faith there in Pergamon So they had to go through tribulation

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They had to go through the the tension and the tribulation and the temptation And what about this temptation that kind of leads us to the story of in in verse 14 and the reference to the

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Old Testament And it also brings me to a greater a greater encouragement that I saw in this passage.

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So in verse 14 Jesus references the story of Balaam and Balak which come from numbers

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You can go back to the the book of Numbers chapters 25 and chapters 31

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You can see it referenced in 2nd Peter 2 15 But Jesus references the story of Balaam which was a prophet and Balak was a the king of Moab and it said

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I have a few things against you because there are some of you who hold to the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of Balak and it's putting a stumbling block before the sons of Israel So what did he mean by this?

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Reference to Balaam and Balak so we have to understand a little bit of the Background to get the reference as I wanted to share that with you real quickly

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What that reference is? So we can understand what's going on here. So Israel Moses was leading

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Israel through the wilderness and they were they were going to the promised land and they were conquering these cities as they tried to As they were trying to establish the promised land, you know

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God was telling them to to conquer these these cities so that the the promised land could be theirs and as they were approaching

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The king of Moab Balak saw what was going on they saw that Israel was

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Taking captive and and taking down these these neighboring cities and he didn't want it to happen to to the city of Moab so he calls this prophet in his town that he knows called

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Balaam and what he wants Balaam to do is Pronounce a curse against Israel But to make a long story short

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Balaam is is telling the king. I can only say what God says and And God has not cursed

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Israel. So therefore I can't curse Israel. I can only bless Israel But we find that and and so of course

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Balak gets mad at him Because he won't he won't do what he says. He won't curse Israel and and save His his town his city of Moab but what we found out later is that even though Balaam Couldn't go against God, of course

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He feared he feared death by going against God so he couldn't go against God as a prophet

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He couldn't speak what God didn't speak he found a different way to get to Israel and what he did was he used the women of the city of Moab to entice the men and and Tempt them into immorality which of course would lead them to the the worship of the false gods and the idols

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The the men fell into this temptation and so therefore Let me flip over to it real quick because it's interesting the wording here

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Numbers chapter 31 verse 16 behold These calls the Son of Israel through the counsel of Balaam to trespass

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Against the Lord in the matter of Peor so the plague was among the congregation of the

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Lord So because they fell into temptation the the plague was among the congregation of the

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Lord and now What's going on here?

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What does Jesus have against some who are at the Church of Pergamum that are behaving like?

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the sons of Israel did in Listening to Balaam and Balak.

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Well, you've got all this Idolatry you have all this immorality that's going on in Capernaum.

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And so they are Compromising their faith it says causing them to eat things sacrificed to idols and commit acts of immorality

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So they they are being they are guilty of what Israel was when they come up on Moab they were

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Compromising their faith and Being enticed by the temptation that was there in Capernaum messing with the idols and Committing acts of immorality.

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So what does that have to do with with us and in the Christian Church? well, it made me think of What Jesus said so so think about this you have

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Seven churches seven letters and Jesus is speaking to these seven churches and water churches.

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They are believers. They're Christians They're made up of Christians and Jesus is speaking to his church.

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And what are we we are Christians? We are a part of his church part of his kingdom

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So the teachings of Jesus the message of Jesus is the same for each of us

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It's the same as it was 2 ,000 years ago. So What teaching of Jesus did

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I think of when I heard of this well, I Went to Matthew chapter 28 and the the same teaching of Jesus it holds true for them as it does for us

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So if you go to Matthew chapter 28 and you look at 18 19 and 20 verses 18 19 and 20

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It says and Jesus came up and spoke to them saying all the authority and I know we we've recited this verse so many times

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But it's so important. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth Go therefore and make disciples of all nations even

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Pergamum Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and lo

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I'm with you always even to the end of the age. So Here's Israel.

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Israel was supposed to be Approaching the promised land they're supposed to be conquering these cities so that they can claim the promised land that God has given them and In the

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Old Testament God instructed them to do it with with the sword with armies But here in the

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New Covenant as God's Church We have a Different kingdom we have a different approach as Jesus has told us here in Matthew chapter 28

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Based on his authority. We are to go and make disciples Our weapon is the gospel.

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Our sword is the Word of God and we are to go conquering nations It says disciple all the nations

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Baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you

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Our weapons are the gospel and the Word of God not not the sword and the shield of ancient

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Israel But our job is to be conquering Nations just as Israel was to be conquering nations and claiming the promised land we are to be conquering nations with the gospel and here in in Pergamum, which their

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Command of Christ is the same as ours Matthew and Jesus is teaching came before prior to the existence of these churches

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So their their instruction from Christ is the same as our instruction from Christ Go into all the world based on the authority of Jesus Christ who has authority in heaven and on earth

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He has all authority go make disciples of all nations even Pergamum But yet how can they do that and that's what

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Jesus has against them they are compromising and not Conquering they are they are behaving and following the teaching of Balaam who counseled the the men of Israel to go after these strange women and which led them to To these strange idols strange gods.

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So they there are some here in Pergamum They're following the teaching the counsel of Balaam and the teaching of Balaam and they are

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Compromising in in Pergamum, even though it's so enticing there. It's the it's the Place of authority the throne of Satan.

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It's Satan's dwelling place. There is Enormous amount of tension an enormous amount of temptation an enormous amount of tribulation but yet Jesus says he has all authority and his command to us is to go and conquer baptizing all nations discipling all nations

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Baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit but what they were doing is compromising and not conquering and That applies to us today

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We have temptation we have tension and we have tribulation all around us Let us not fall into temptation.

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Let us not follow the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of Balaam and Compromise in this world, but transform this world with the gospel and with the

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Word of God Let's claim this world for Christ Because he has all authority and he has gone before us and he goes with us

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We go with his authority To make disciples and to baptize make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the

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Father the Son the Holy Spirit Commanding them to obey all that he's Teaching them to obey all that he's commanded us that's our command of Christ, that's our instructions from Christ to be conquering and Not compromising here in this world.

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Hope that was encouraging to you if you have any questions I'd love to try to answer your questions Help you out in any way that I can according to Scriptures If I can pray for you love to be able to do that If you wouldn't mind to to support this ministry by sharing give us a light giving us a heart

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So that others can hear the Word of God and And come to the truth of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is

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King So we proclaim his gospel we proclaim that he is King. He lived a sinless life.

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He died on the cross Took the place of sinners he who knew no sin became sin

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On our behalf so that we might live so that we may might have forgiveness of sins

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He died he was buried in and put in a tomb on the third day

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He was raised from the dead then he ascended on high He he went to the ancient of days as Daniel says on the cloud

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He went to the ancient of days and there he sits at his right hand the place of authority commanding us to go and make disciples of all the nations

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If you do not know him as your Lord and Savior we proclaim him as King and we we proclaim his goodness and his righteousness and His command to repent of your sins and put your faith and trust in him because he's the only one that can save He can save to the uttermost and he will save you no matter who you are what you've done he can

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Grant you repentance. He can help you to turn from them and to turn to him and Put your faith and trust in him.

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I Appreciate you. Thank you for watching And let us close in prayer father.

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We thank you for this time that you've given us to spend together in your word We thank you for the cross.

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Thank you for Jesus and father We ask that you would help us to not compromise in this world, but to go forth conquering in your name

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Remembering your son and the authority that he that you've given him that he goes with us

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As we obey him Help us to reach this world for you and for your glory in Jesus name.

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We pray Again, thank you for watching. Remember that Jesus is King go live in that victory and let's continue to go out there together and Proclaim the gospel.